Countdown to Victory
by MyrrhDarkwing
Summary: "Forty-nine, fifty!" Riku announced, whipping his blindfold off of his eyes. "Ready or not, here I come!" The Trio plays hide-and-seek on Destiny Islands- because no matter how old they are, they're all just big kids at heart.


"Forty-nine, fifty!" Riku announced, whipping his blindfold off of his eyes. "Ready or not, here I come!" He slid down from one of the paopu tree's branches, landing neatly on the soft white sand. Taking care to move silently (no need in alerting the other two when he was drawing near) he padded over towards a bush that was swaying ever so slightly in the nonexistent breeze.

_Now remember, this time you stay hidden_,Vanitas was currently hissing as he paced around the inside of Sora's mind. _I don't care how bored you are, I want to win!_ The boy whose mind he resided in had the most annoying tendency to try moving to a new hiding place whenever the others took too long in finding him (which generally resulted in his cover being blown and Riku tackling him into the sand).

_Calm down, would you?_ Xion pleaded, looking up from the mystery novel she was reading. _It's just hide-and-seek._ She'd never understood the dark-haired boy's fascination with victory. Sure, winning was nice and all, but this was only a friendly game between three people who loved each other. None of _them_ cared who won; so why did Vanitas?

"I hear you," Sora whispered softly, moving farther back behind his chosen crate. He was surrounded on three sides by obstacles blocking him from view (namely, a crate, a palm tree, and a large rock). The ocean murmured in the background as gentle waves lapped up against the shore. It was all remarkably peaceful, or at least it would have been if _someone_ weren't so fixated on winning. "I'll stay here, promise."

_Thank you, _Ventus muttered as he tried to work out where exactly the puzzle piece he was holding should go. _He gets really annoying when he's angry at something, and the three of us have to deal with him twenty-four seven. _

_Hey, that just means he's outnumbered, _Roxas pointed out, pausing the song he was listening to in order to join the silent conversation. _It's four Keyblades against one, and Xion's great with her magic. _

_Thanks, Roxas,_ Xion said, blushing slightly.

_Hey,_ he replied, grinning at his friend,_ it's true. _

_It's why we keep you around,_ Vanitas added snidely, momentarily distracted from haranguing Sora. _Well, that, and you're cuter than the two guys over here- you've got tits._

Sora felt rather than heard the distinctive sound of Xion's Keyblade thwacking against Vanitas' ever-present mask. Just another day inside his head.

So far, Riku had failed to find either of the others. Kairi giggled to herself as he walked past the bush she was hiding behind for the third time in as many minutes. It pressed up against the outside of the Secret Place, effectively obscuring her from casual glances (and since today's outfit blended nicely with her surroundings, Riku hadn't even given her that).

_Isn't he supposed to be the observant one?_ Naminé thought, absentmindedly sketching their surroundings. The picture was actually turning out fairly nicely, and she was quite proud of it. _Compared to Sora, anyway?_

"Yep. And how long has he been searching now?" Kairi murmured, keeping her voice quiet so as not to be heard.

_I would estimate… seven minutes or so? It isn't even that big of an island,_ Naminé remarked. Really, it was possible to go from one side to the other in less than five minutes- whatever was taking Riku so long?

"Must be having an off day," Kairi said softly, shaking her head as Riku disappeared from her field of vision once more. Usually he had found at least _one_ of them by this point, if not both. Of course, she _had_ picked a particularly clever hiding place this time around, and perhaps Sora had done the same.

None of the places he had checked contained Sora or Kairi, and he'd checked all their usual hiding spots. Then he'd checked all of _his_ usual hiding spots, and found… well, there was a rather _startled_ bird, but aside from that he hadn't found anything at all. At the moment, he was wandering around the perimeter of the island, and- huh.

That the shadow did not quite fit with the box it apparently belonged to was Riku's first thought. That crates generally did not have spiky hair was the second. Well, this at least would explain why he hadn't been able to find _Sora-_ the boy had been hiding all the way over here, in this makeshift little cave by the ocean.

Sora was facing the other way, though, or so Riku thought (because why would he be looking out towards the ocean? it was better to keep an eye on the seeker, but this time the seeker could sneak up from behind). Careful to be silent (and more importantly, not cast his shadow over Sora just yet), Riku crept up behind the other boy.

"Found you," he purred, slipping his arms around Sora from behind. Sora yelped and then, as always, promptly leaned his head back for a kiss. Riku, as always, obliged him before ungraciously pulling him to his feet.

"Did you find Kairi yet?" Sora asked hopefully. His face fell as Riku shook his head, laughing.

"Not yet, but with the two of us working together, it'll only be a matter of time. So come on! Bet you five munny I can find her first."

Sora grinned. "It'll be a shame to take your munny." With that, he darted away across the island, his blue eyes lighting up at the prospect of beating Riku at something (of course, it _was_ five against one).

Riku smiled as well (there was just something so _infectious_ about Sora's smiles- neither he nor Kairi could ever help but smile back), then took off in the opposite direction, heading for the one part of the island he hadn't checked yet.

Sora ran towards the Secret Place, which was the direction he had seen Kairi head in when they split up to go hide. Hopefully she would still be around there somewhere. "Okay, so do any of you have genius ideas on where to look?" he muttered to his head-mates. He'd mostly been searching for an awesome place to hide where Riku would never find him, but of the other four, only Vanitas had been paying attention to that goal.

_Uh… keep going forward and look for red hair? _Ventus suggested helpfully. He had been mostly focusing on his puzzle. The picture was finally starting to take shape- it was of Aqua, Terra, and himself as younger children, when he had just arrived at Master Eraqus' house. He had teased Terra long ago for willingly spending hours piecing together a particularly difficult puzzle, but if he saw his friend again he would definitely have to apologise. Puzzles were great for keeping one's mind occupied, and thus distracted from things he would rather not hear (for example, his head-mates' constant bickering or what Sora, Riku, and Kairi did at night).

_Check in the Secret Place,_ Xion added, _it makes a pretty good hiding spot. Course, she probably already thought of that and figured you'd look there, but… it's worth a shot, right?_ Because that _was_ where they'd seen Kairi heading and all. Unless she'd doubled around or something, she ought to still be there. And if she wasn't, they could always look for clues, like in the mystery novels Xion loved. Speaking of mystery novels, the killer was about to be revealed… was it…? Yes! She had been right all along!

_And maybe the bushes around it, _Roxas thought as Xion trailed off in favour of her book. _Those are thick, and hard to see through._ Since he'd had to hide quite a lot on his various missions, he considered himself something of an expert at it. Of course, how observant could a walking, talking candelabrum actually be? one might ask. The answer Roxas would give was 'very observant indeed'.

_Bushes do make for good camouflage, _Vanitas agreed, now focused on finding that one redhead girl- Kairi, wasn't it? - and thus achieving victory. _She was wearing a green outfit today, which means she would be hiding somewhere with that colouring. _At least, that was what _he_ would do if he had to hide somewhere. He'd pick somewhere where he could blend in. Kairi was the smartest of the three here on this island, just as he was in this head- thus, her thoughts probably followed the same path.

"Right, bushes it is," Sora whispered cheerfully, still trying to stay silent so as not to alert Kairi to his presence (of course, if she was anywhere around, she'd probably already seen him). His head-mates were much better at this sort of thing than he was, but they were teaching him. He'd learn, he was certain of it. After all, he was the Keyblade Master, he could do just about anything he put his mind to!

A familiar head of brown hair that somehow defied gravity came into Kairi's limited view. A few seconds later, the rest of Sora's body followed it. Well, then, Riku must have either found him or taken too long and caused him to give up. In either case, they were both probably looking for her.

"Great," Kairi murmured, "it's six against two. This is _hardly_ fair, especially seeing as I can't actually move." Of course, two of the six were Ventus and Sora, who weren't exactly known for their observational skills, and Naminé had an artist's eye (which basically meant she was the _best_ at figuring out how to turn their surroundings into camouflage).

_Oh, come on, you sound like Vanitas,_ Naminé giggled, looking up from her sketchpad. She set her coloured pencil neatly back in its case before standing and padding over to the forefront of Kairi's mind. _Actually, I have an idea you may like. Sora's not technically the seeker, so…_

"If I get him over here, I won't have been found yet," Kairi nodded. Unless, of course, Sora called out for Riku the moment he saw her.

_Exactly. See if you can get him to spot us. It shouldn't be hard- your hair and this bush do not exactly go well together. _Naminé's was a decidedly mischievous smirk. Kairi wondered what exactly her Nobody was planning.

She wriggled slightly, just enough to cause the bush to sway in the complete absence of wind. That movement immediately drew Sora's attention _(or at least Vanitas',_ Naminé remarked, _since he's so serious about this… quite amusing, really)_, and he- after looking around to make sure Riku was nowhere near- crept cautiously over towards Kairi's hiding spot.

Predictably, he ducked down and burrowed into the bush until he was right next to her. She was purposely looking the other way, just so he could feel like he had managed to sneak up on her.

"Fou-mmph!" was all he got out, the last bit due to her whirling around and kissing him in order to stifle his cry of triumph. He kissed back willingly enough, but looked quite puzzled when she finally pulled away. "Kairi, you know I love you, but what was that for?"

"And I love you," she whispered in return, "but don't let Riku know where I am just yet. Naminé's planning something…" Kairi trailed off. Then she started talking again, but this time her voice was different.

"Let's surprise him," Naminé smiled. "You go hide in that bush over there, we'll stay here, and then when he gets near the cave's entrance you can both spring out and tackle him."

"Weren't you supposed to be the calm one?" Sora asked softly, but Kairi had already returned. He did rather like the plan, though, it could be interesting.

"She says calmness can get boring," she replied. "Now, hurry up and hide! It can't be that long before he gets over here- it's a small island, after all."

Sora leaned over and kissed her quickly before scurrying out of the bush and plunging into the one opposite her. Once he was situated and the bushes had stopped moving, he flashed her the thumbs-up sign, and the two settled down to wait for Riku. Not that they had to wait for very long or anything- moments after they started waiting, Kairi spotted her other lover wandering into her field of vision, looking rather disgruntled.

Where had Sora _gone?_ He'd been heading this way the last time Riku saw him, and now he seemed to have vanished completely. Maybe he was hiding again, trying to pretend that his earlier blown cover didn't count. Although it wasn't like Sora (or his head-mates, for that matter) to pass up a chance to win against Riku, even if the stakes were only five munny.

The silver-haired boy sighed and shook his head before trudging over to the only place he hadn't checked yet- the Secret Place- simply because he'd thought it was much too obvious of a hiding spot. Of course, that might be exactly where Kairi was hiding, if she knew he wouldn't think to check there. Their logic worked in weird and twisted ways sometimes, which only made things more… interesting.

He poked his head into the opening of the cave, peering into the darkness. "So~ra," he called out in a singsong voice. "I know you're there, So~ra…" Riku heard a muffled yelp from one of the nearby bushes and started to turn, only to collapse to the ground as two warm bodies cannoned into him.

"How'd you tell, Riku?" Sora's voice asked anxiously. "Vanitas even _said_ I was hiding well…"

"He's magic," Kairi's voice giggled from his other side. "Hadn't you noticed? We all are." There was a burst of white light as she summoned a lightning bolt, filling the Secret Place with its radiance.

"Found you, Kairi!" Riku announced at last, grinning into the sand.

"No you haven't," she said (he could feel her shaking her head stubbornly). "Still haven't seen me, have you? You have to see me in order for it to count." Then she yelped as he suddenly rolled, until he was almost on top of her. "Sora, help!"

Two hands came down to cover Riku's eyes. At least, until he brought one of his feet back and carefully kicked the other boy off of him. "Two against one isn't fair," he smirked, and bent his head until he was staring straight into Kairi's eyes. "So, have I won yet?"

"Yeah, fine, now let me up," she acquiesced. "I've got sand in my pants!"

He stood and pulled her up with him, both of them grinning. "All right, so that means I'm seeker now!" Sora said. They nodded. He closed his eyes and was just about to start counting when-

"Dinner's ready!" another voice called, and Selphie came bounding over to them, beaming. "Sora, your mum sent me to say that, okay? She also said to tell you that if you three didn't get to the table _right away,_ she was letting Goofy have all the cake."

Sora immediately lit up at the word 'cake'. "She made cake?" Then the other words registered. "_Goofy is here?"_

Selphie nodded. "Yep, and Donald too. The King's coming later!" With her job done, Selphie took off again, racing back down to her boat.

"Cake, friends, what are we waiting for?" Riku asked rhetorically. "Last one there has to get the ice cream to-night!" He turned and ran off, leaving the other two behind.

"No fair!" Sora yelled after him, then he and Kairi followed.

_You'd better win this time,_ Vanitas warned, scowling behind his mask.

Xion just shook her head. _It's okay- Ven taught them some tricks last night._ Then realising what she had said, spluttered- _not like that! Like, um, you'll see…_

There was a _whoosh,_ as of two Keyblade gliders appearing.

_Smart,_ Vanitas commented grudgingly. With those against him, Riku would lose for sure…


End file.
